Originally Posted by
Buzz
Hey folks, we just had a brand new syllabus drop here in T-38 land, it takes effect with the new class that starts 38s in about a week (Class 09-01). There is now a Bomber/ISR track. Essentially, post-assignment night, the last 5 sorties in the syllabus are formation (4-ship and 2-ship) for the Fighter/FAIP track and "composite" sorties for the Bomber/ISR track. These compsoite sorties can be Transition (the new term for contact), Instrument or 2-ship sorties with no Low-Level or 4-ship allowed.
Now, there is no official word yet what the ISR track is exactly but my money says UAV baby!
For the non-AF folks ISR means Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance.
When the President signed the FY 08 DOD budget back in Jan it had funding for around 70 new UAVs for the AF. I have read that the FY 09 AF budget will include funding for around 69 UAVs also. Simple math, the AF needs folks to "fly" these things, sounds like SUPT grads may be on their way to UAV glory.
Some of my 38 IP bros and I have discussed what this will mean for the 38 side. There will be a huge drop off of Phase II, T-6 students, that will want to come to 38s. If I was a T-6 student and the 38 side = TAMI 21, U-28, and UAV assigments out of UPT, I would fight like hell for a T-1 or T-44 vs a 38.
Crazy world.
Buzz
This is just plain sad. I think your assessment is right on when it comes to choices at track select. The really sad thing is that I don't think that the leadership realizes what a demoralizing affect this is having on our pilot force. The going advice in the heavy community (from realists, not kool-aid chuggers) is that you need to have an assignment plan as soon as possible in order to avoid a UAV. Unfortunately for some, it hasn't worked. Fortunately for me, it did and I'm still in the cockpit. Why on earth would anyone sign on for a ten year commitment to sit behind a computer screen?